The archives of the articles, reviews, interviews and other ramblings written by Sarah E. Jahier (aka Fatally Yours).

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

TV Review: Happy Town "In this Home on Ice"

Last year network TV gave horror fans the thrilling and entertaining Harper’s Island
(which I was shamelessly hooked on and still highly recommend checking
out) and ever since then I’ve been keen to see if other networks would
jump on this trend to make their own chilling horror-themed mini-series.
Well, the waiting is over because starting on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 ABC will air Happy Town, a deliciously eerie series that (allegedly) echoes the classic Twin Peaks and promises to slake horror fans’ thirst for a substantially spooky series.

I recently got a sneak peek at the first episode of the eagerly
anticipated series, which I’ve been looking forward to since early
promos surfaced, and as far as I can tell from the intriguing first
episode we are definitely in for a thrilling rollercoaster ride through Happy Town!

The first episode begins with a vicious murder by a masked killer
before introducing us to a colorful cast of locals. Among them is young
Henley (Lauren German), who has just moved to picturesque Haplin,
Minnesota with hopes of opening her own candle shop. She soon befriends
the mysterious Merritt Grieves (Sam Neill), who has also moved to
Haplin, Minnesota (aka “Happy Town”) to open his movie memorabilia
store. The people are friendly, the scenery is beautiful and the air
smells like fresh-baked bread (thanks to the local bread factory), but
the town can’t hide its secrets and soon dark truths about its past,
including mysterious disappearances perpetrated by someone called the
“Magic Man”, are being revealed.

I was really sucked in by the first episode and there are some
seriously strange things afoot in Happy Town that I want to find out
about! I want to find out the backstory on the Haplins, the namesakes of
the town, and what happened to their little girl who vanished at the
hands of the Magic Man. And there is something very sinister going on
with Henley…if that is even her real name. And why is the third floor of
the boarding house strictly off limits? What exactly does the film “The
Blue Door” stand for and why is Merritt Grieves so obsessed with it?
And who is Chloe and why does Sheriff Griffin Conroy (M.C. Gainey) keep
speaking her name in a trance? And what is up with the symbol of the
question mark with a halo over it?

Sooooo many questions…which is why I must see more!

Seriously, I didn’t know quite what to expect when going into the first episode of Happy Town,
and while I hoped for the best I also had to prepare for the worse.
Luckily, it seems that writers Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec and Scott
Rosenberg as well as directors Gary Fleder and Darnell Martin have (so
far) done a fantastic job with Happy Town and I am salivating for the next episode!

Catch the very first episode on ABC at 10 PM (9 PM Central) on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010!